America’s Hometown Sweets filled the newly opened Café Reconcile to celebrate opening night of New Orleans Food Fest, a weekend-long celebration of hometown eats focusing on the unforgettable, informal fare found in village cafes and city neighborhoods, shoreline seafood shacks, barbecue parlors, chicken dinner halls, pie palaces, and food trucks from all over the United States.

Guests sampled, compared, and contrasted the most iconic desserts from across the nation, including whoopie pies from Maine, key lime pie from Key West, popcorn balls from Ohio and the sweets that make New Orleans unique.

Steven Forster is an award-winning photographer with more than 35 years of experience photographing New Orleans party scene. He is a native of the Crescent City. Look for Steven Forster’s Big Easy photographs every Sunday in The Times-Picayune and at Nola.com/society. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/NolaPhotog.